Hey folks:

I think maybe kinda sorta I read something about Rickenbacker's policy when it comes to the wood used in their products. I just can't seem to find it. Could someone tell me or point me in the right direction as to what Rickenbacker's stand is on wood, as far as it's origin and sustainability?

Basically asking out of curiosity, after reading about yet another raid on Gibson where pallets of supposedly illegal Rosewood and Ebony were confiscated, and all the political bru-ha-ha surrounding it. Not quite sure what to make of it.

--T

Maybe you should shoot RIC an email, since as I recall, there aren't supposed to be political discussions on the board.

It should be fine, considering nothing political has been stated yet.

For the most part, Ric use Maple, and are sometimes lucky enough to get Charactered Maple. I know the 650c is made of "hardwood," though I can't say I have heard of it. The fretboard wood of Rics seems a bit of a mystery to me...

Gibson just so happens to use a lot of different wood. The only thing close to political I would suggest is that there is a solution to stop so many trees from being cut down, but it probably won't be "legalized" for a long, long time.

A similar topic was posted only a few weeks back, I responded and it got locked up!

I will try to stay clear of any politicking or what happened at Gibson, I shall save some ink this time ( see I'm a conservationist already). I live in S.E Queensland subtropical mountain rain- forest 1200ft above sea level, surrounded by wilderness. The botanica and wildlife are superb. When I first came here 25 years ago it was being partly logged, I saw the logging and destruction first hand. It's National park now. I was lucky I made a botanical discovery of a rare plant (lepidozamia peroffskyana) these plants (Zamiads similar to Cycads) I discovered have been dated by the Herbarium in Queensland ( they are over 1000 years old and where found outside their known extent)! It took another 5 years and a lot of frustration, effort and with some help from some highly respected Australian environmental scientists and botanists it got saved . It's all National park now, never to be logged, 1000's of hectares were saved and all the wildlife that comes with it. Trees are food, shelter, habitat for wildlife. Rainforest is the epitome of nature, it's so abundant yet so fragile. if you destroy it it doesn't comeback! The wildlife is then of concern it is then threatened because of habitat loss

It's a bit late to worry about chasing down guitar manufactures, years after the trees have been felled.. Protection of such rainforest and timber should be in the hands of the government of the country from which it comes (endemic protection). I say stop them cutting down rainforest in the first place, if it's that's precious it needs to be locked up in National park and protected! Plantation rainforest timber is the way of the future ( but it doesn't have instantaneous rewards)

Declaring a National park here where I live worked so well, now instead of logging trucks and chainsaws, we have bush walkers and conservationist, birdwatchers from all over the world using it! Environmental scientist come here to study it. Nature has taught me some profound lessons. LOL I'm a bit like Thoreau, except I never left the wilderness, and my use of English not as creative or eloquent. Like him I try to understand it and learn from it!

Most timber imported by large guitar makers is done so legally, Ric doesn't use a lot of Rainforest cabinet timber. In the end the only way to save Rainforest is to have the government of that country lock it up and declare a national park with rangers to protect that area. I live on a large property I have planted 1000's of rainforest trees, in another 150 years time this property will be guitar makers heaven many of the trees I planted are perfect for luthiers. Sometimes you have to think what's best for perpetuity, not just today!

LOL I think this post may now be of concern,,,I fear it will become extinct, but we don't have to lock it up yet do we???????

No, sounds good to me, Bud. I was afraid my comment earlier would be taken off, but there are certain boundaries. On one hand, it's almost impossible to not mention something political; on the other, it is still possible. Very tricky/sticky.

I'm trying to keep this page alive ( but trying not to cross any borders) Maybe I did last time around, I'm not too sure.

Because I live in an Eco hot spot and play guitar and study botany as an amateur, I consider and value the ecosystem and what nature provides in general!
I consider myself very fortunate in what nature provides

Not only do we get timber and many products for making guitars, even the skills to build them and design them comes from nature. We can build machines to build guitars, even that intelligence is derived from nature. Yes it hard to believe we are a part of nature in some ways evolved and in some sense we have just fallen down from the trees.. We have just fallen down from the tress and we wanna chop em all down!

I try to conserve my guitars and environment as much as possible, LOL I do replace frets often. It's mostly in the making of furniture that larger quantity of rainforest timber gets used. Acoustics of high quality use more rainforest timber than electrics!
Many cabinet timber as you can imagine come from special ecosystems, so we must be careful

Isn't fret metal recyclable? Collect your old frets in a container and toss them in the recycle bin.

I toss my guitar strings, and the packages they come in, in the recycle bin at home.

The plain steel strings are also excellent wire for repairing certain varieties of cheese slicers.

Rust and all.

Hey JBudweiser
Interesting read your posting last month and gotta give you a thumbs-up for your personal crusade, over several years, in having an area established as a National park. The future generations will thank you for saving them some wilderness.

Hi thanks for that comment. At the beginning of my crusade I never thought I would ever get very far getting a massive area of State forestry, declared National Park. I was just trying to get some smaller sections of more significant rainforest locked up!

The media got hold of the large Zamiads (CYCADS) I discovered! They interviewed me and it went to broadcast on the news, also there were some newspaper articles, this exposure helped the cause. Well I was so lucky, An environmental scientist called Dr Ila Keto came to my rescue. So did the 2 senior botanists from Queensland Herbarium, there was a big push on all fronts and the Government decided to stop logging such beautiful areas, it is now National park, never to be logged again

Oh back then in 1994 when I first started I put that much effort into writing letters to government and forestry heads. In the end the 3 top officials from the State forestry Dept came to see the Zamiads (cycads) I discovered and when they did they went running around trying to find bigger ones! I said to the 3 of them ''No wonder it's taken me so long to get this place locked up, I said you guys are now running around like children playing who can find the biggest or who's got the biggest, no wonder I can't get far as I been dealing with children''.

Once they saw and understood what I was really talking about, they decided to lock up that section, as it was so special! Also as you can imagine as soon as the news story appeared the Forestry quickly pulled every logging truck chainsaw and all eqipment out that area so fast ! People could see on the news doco that logging was taking place right in an area with 1000 year old living fossils ( Zepidamia perrofskyana) at and incredible 21 feet tall! I discovered those in 1990 but only told botanist!


In the end the whole of Mapleton Forestry got re classified into National park
Dr Ila Keto got a big commendation, she was awarded Queenslander of the year, that's a big honour. I got the greatest reward, my property backs on to this National park,,,,,,on 3 sides. I am surrounded by subtropical wilderness with a nature reserve of massive proportions, it is so peaceful. Now international tourists go walking there so do botanists, bird watchers, people from all over the world now come here. That's so much better than destroying it. If you destroy or damage something of such value you are a Vandal. I stopped the destruction of truly magnificent botany and helped to protect all the Wildlife. I didn't want to be a environmental crusader but sometimes you must do what you must and not just turn a blind eye!.My health suffered a bit at the time as I was really pushing, just keep in mind Forestry will always want to fight you, My health is fine now I was just pushing too hard to achieve something important!

We are loosing too much biodiversity we must save what we can, you've seen how it's just disappears~